Flip-Flop
Textbook Errors. We have mentioned from time to time the
fact that the Mel Gabler Institute in Texas has reviewed and found
massive errors and bias in high school books, many of them promoting
atheistic views. Now a government book titled American Government Institutions and
Policies, 10th Edition, published by Houghton Mifflin Company
has stirred up complaints among skeptics and atheists because of its
inaccuracies and pro-fundamentalist views. The book claims that
global warming evidence is unreliable, that prayer in a public school
is illegal, and that colonists wrote the constitution as they did
because of their belief in original sin. Skeptics are complaining
about what they view as fundamentalist bias on the part of the authors,
who by the way are a Pepperdine professor and a former director of the
Bush administrations faith-based initiative. It is hard to write
a textbook that will please everyone, but it is interesting to see
atheists and skeptics being the ones who have the complaint this
time. By the way, prayer in the public school is legal it just
cannot be compulsory or led by a teacher. Source: Skeptical Inquirer, July/August
2008, page 7.

Phoenix
Lights--Another UFO Scam. The number of UFO claims seems to
be dropping rapidly, and one of the most recent claims will contribute
to a continuance of that trend. On April 21, 2008, hundreds of
residents in Phoenix reported four or five bright red lights hovering
over the city. Many stories developed about the lights, but it
has now been confirmed that a local huckster tied road flares to helium
balloons and released them at one minute intervals. A neighbor of
the man has confirmed the incident and what caused it. We need to
remember that UFO means unidentified flying objects, meaning we do not
know what it is. UFO does not mean that little green men are
flying around manipulating us and using us for some bizarre plot they
are hatching. Source: The Business Journal of Phoenix,
April 22, 2008. Available at
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/04/21/daily23.html
with a follow-up story at
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/05/05/story9.html.

Gene
complexity and Humanness. Why are humans so different than
every other life form on this planet? What gives us our
creativity, our inventiveness, our communication skills, etc.
That question has been batted around for a long time, and as the human
genome was mapped out in recent years many people felt the unique
complexity of the human genome would answer these questions. It
turns out that humans do not have more genes than other forms of
life. In fact, humans have fewer than 25,000 genes, roughly the
same as a fruit fly or a roundworm. What IS different about humans is the
interactions that take place among proteins. Human genes interact
in roughly 650,000 different ways which is ten times more than a fruit
fly and three times that of a roundworm. These interactions allow
for the massive diversity and complexity seen in the human
species. These interactions also involve RNA and other parts of
the gene machinery. Michael Stumpf summarized the complexity of
the system by saying "It's much, much more than just the organization
of protein interactions. There's so much we don't know."
When you have such enormous complexity in something as basic as the
gene pool that controls heredity, it is obvious that trying to explain
its creation on a chance basis also becomes something that we know very
little about, and in fact is probably an inadequate explanation of how
life came to be on this planet. Source: Science News, June 7, 2008, page 10.

Enceladus
Comet Like. One of the moons of Saturn named Enceladus has
been studied by the Cassini spacecraft as it flew within 120 miles of
the surface of this unusual moon. As it did so it found Enceladus
was jetting plumes of gas in the same way comets do. The plume
contained water vapor, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and organic
material--some twenty times denser than scientists had expected.
There may be a connection between the debris found in the distant parts
of the solar system and the moons orbiting our Jovian planets.
Astronomical sources of organic material have great interest to
scientists and may have some interesting connections to the geologic
history of the earth. Source: Astronomy, July 2008, page 26.

Hippies Are
Not Growing Out of It. Those of us who lived through the
1960s used to say of the bizarre things that were being done by us and
our peers that we would all grow out of it. Some of us matured to
the point of becoming responsible self-supporting adults.
However, a recent study reported in Scientific
American (May 2008, page 22) indicates that drug indulgences
have continued for many baby boomers. Emergency room treatment
for cocaine abuse has risen from 1400 in 1995 to almost 5000 in 2002,
an increase of 240 percent. Heroin use rose 160 percent,
marijuana use rose 467 percent, and amphetamine rose 700 percent in the
same period. Admissions to illicit drug use in the past 12 months
rose from 2.7 percent in 2002 to 4.4 percent in 2005. The same
study reports that the physical effects of alcohol and these drugs have
"devastating consequences." All attempts to justify the use of
drugs of all kinds including alcohol fly in the face of the evidence.

EPA
Scientists Have Political Interference. A questionnaire
distributed to 5,500 EPA scientists received 1,586 responses in which
60 percent of them said they had experienced political interference
during the past five years. Rep. Henry Waxman said that there was
a pattern of ignoring and manipulating science to affect risk
assessment and the crafting of regulations. Source: From an
AP release which can be viewed at
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/23/epa.scientists.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories.

Another
Ghost Busted. In our obsession with wacky news today, any
claim of a ghost gets front page attention, but when it is explained
away it rarely gets in the paper at all. In June 2006 a
surveillance camera on the Sante Fe courthouse revealed a glowing spot
drifting in front of a patrol car. When it was put on YouTube it
generate 132,000 hits with a general consensus that it was a
ghost. Benjamin Radford an investigator specializing in bizarre
claims has shown that the ghost was lady bugs crawling across the lens
of the camera. It was glowing because of the morning sun hitting
the lens at a low angle. It is blurry because of how close it was
to the camera. Like bigfoot, crop circles, psychic claims, the
Loch Ness monster, and UFOs we have a case of when people do not
believe in something they will believe anything.

ANNOUNCING
THE DOES GOD EXIST? 2009 CANYONLANDS TRIP. WHAT: A bus tour of the Grand
Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Zion national parks, Lowell
Observatory, and Meteor Crater with John Clayton, Alan Doty, and Mark
Story. A Christian experience of instruction and devotionals in
one of America’s great natural areas. WHEN: September
13 –18, 2009. HOW MUCH: From $549 (three or four in a room)
to $898 for single occupancy. The cost covers the bus trip, all
motels, breakfasts, instructional materials, park fees, IMAX
presentation, and the final dinner. The cost does not include
lunch and dinner, tips, spending money. No money is given to John
Clayton or Does God Exist? WHO: Anyone over the age of
eight. The ability to walk is not an issue. Hiking is
available, but not compulsory. For more information and an
itinerary contact John Clayton at jncdge@aol.com, 1555 Echo Valley
Drive, Niles MI 49120, or 269-687-9426. Or contact Queenslander
Tours at qltours.com or
877-865-6711.